Notorious (16 page)

“But you like what you do.”

“Mostly. I miss the freedom of being an investigative reporter.”

“Isn’t that what you do for that show?”

“Yes, but people usually know why I’m asking questions. I used to do more undercover work. More like a private investigator who wrote exposés rather than broadcast them.”

“And books.”

“A few.”

“Working on anything new?”

“I haven’t had time.” She had a few ideas, but true crime books took a long time to research and work, to fact-collect and fact-check. “Ben, my producer, wants me to write a collection based on the stories I’ve covered for the show.”

“But you don’t want to.”

“I’ve already told the story. I’m not interested in writing about them as well.” She didn’t want to talk about her job or the show. “I met with the Hoffmans yesterday morning and was going to tell them I couldn’t help, except I have a feeling there’s something to the case—something is pulling me, not just the connection to Atherton Prep. They told me about what Jessica Hoffman said, you interviewing her about her mother, and after a little research into the crime rates on construction sites—”

“Which is high.”

“But not homicides.”

Their food arrived—a Cobb salad for Max and a club sandwich for Nick. She filled him in on what had made her suspicious at the construction site, how she met Dru, and what Dru had said when she called to meet.

“The thing that really bugs me is that Jason was killed for nothing. There was nothing to steal. That suggests that it was personal. Someone who wanted him dead followed him to the school, or knew he planned to go there Saturday night. So when the Hoffmans told me you questioned Jessica Hoffman about her mother, I thought there might be a family connection. Put that with the financial trouble of Evergreen before the fairy godfather in the persona of Jasper Pierce took it all away with the sports complex. But Dru’s comment about Jason’s obsession with the trees … well, that seems out of place.”

Max sipped her water, then continued. “However, I don’t know any more. Dru said that odd things had been happening that week. He was at ACP for a specific reason the night he was killed. And that makes me wonder if there’s a completely different reason, not personal, but tied to money—either the funding or an environmental consideration. Holes in trees. That doesn’t make sense. What do you think?”

What was going shook his head. “old fd p through Nick’s mind was likely what went through the minds of all the cops who ended up working with her. Should he or shouldn’t he work with her? What should he tell her? Was she going to screw him and make his department look bad? Was she going to jeopardize his case? Would his lieutenant reprimand him? Would the DA get mad?

Scratch that. Max suspected Nick didn’t care what the DA thought.

“I have some ground rules,” Nick said.

“Lay them out.”

“Write nothing about this case without talking to me first.”

“I’m not planning to write about the case, but if I do, I agree.”

“You may not quote me, unless I give you express permission and I approve the quote.”

“Agreed.”

Nick waited until the waiter removed their plates before he told Max anything important.

“I have some suspicions about the financial dealings between Evergreen and Jasper Pierce. Something you didn’t mention in all your research, but Pierce is a silent partner of Evergreen. He profits from the building of the sports complex, which makes it seem like a scam, except he’d disclosed it to the school before they agreed to the contract. Still—he’s also funding the project, along with this guy named Archer Sterling.”

“Archer is my uncle,” Max said.

Nick stared at her. “Why didn’t you say so?”

“It didn’t come up, until now.”

He still looked unhappy. “No matter how hard we looked, me or the FBI fraud task force, there’s nothing to it. I just don’t like when I learn something important that my witnesses neglected to tell me.”

“Did you talk to Pierce?”

“Yes, initially, and he was cooperative, but less so during follow-up interviews. He was irritated that we weren’t doing more to find Jason’s killer.” Nick’s jaw clenched, but he hid his temper well. “I was mad that I was stuck. I interviewed Dru Parker twice—she didn’t say anything about odd behavior or why Jason was hanging out at the site that night. His uncle, Brian Robeaux, was the only one who mentioned it. Robeaux said that Jason walked the grounds repeatedly, but thought it was his way of communing with the earth or something. Jason was apparently big into building structures that blend into the natural environment. He and the architect were friends—Gordon Cho—who’d also been his mentor and boss when Jason interned at Cho Architectural. Robeaux said nothing about any obsession with trees or holes.”

“Maybe,” Max said, “Dru didn’t think anything was wrong until something spooked her yesterday.”

“On Friday I put the case in the inactive file, so when you called me Saturday I was both irritated and interested. Dru Parker was a part-time secretary and didn’t seem to have any useful information. I should have pushed.”

Nick was blaming himself for missing something. For some reason, that endeared him to Max. “She was definitely worried when she called me. She didn’t want her roommates knowing that she was meeting with me, and she planned on visiting her mother for an extended stay. Maybe someone else spooked her.”

“Who else did you talk to?”

“Roger Lawrence. I thought he acted belligerent shook his head. “9ou> when I was talking to Dru, but that could have been his personality.”

“He didn’t kill Jason, that I’m certain about,” Nick said. “His alibi is rock-solid. He was in the middle of his twentieth anniversary cruise to the Caribbean. Jason’s parents were home together. Brian Robeaux was at a party in San Mateo. He told me Jason was supposed to join him there, and they were going to drive back together, but Jason didn’t show. Jasper Pierce was home alone, but I couldn’t find any motive as to why he would want Jason dead. Still, he’s the only one who doesn’t have a witness to verify his alibi. We looked at friends, neighbors, even his sister and her fiancé—there was no one with the motive or opportunity to kill him.”

There was a long silence before Max asked, “Did you learn anything about DL Environmental last night?”

“Just an envirogroup. Harmless. They don’t seem to do much of anything except organize petition drives.”

“Then where did they get the money to buy a car?”

“People give money to those groups all the time.”

“Maybe you can subpoena their records.”

“For what cause?”

“The car was present in the commission of a felony.”

He laughed. “The DA would laugh his ass off.”

“Maybe Dru will give them to you, or tell you what the group does.”

“I doubt she’ll talk to me. As soon as she regains consciousness, she’ll lawyer up.”

“She can’t lawyer up with me.” She tilted her head and smiled. “I can get her to cooperate.”

“I can offer her police protection.”

“I can offer her a voice. The ability to control the message. I’ll convince her to help, and then you can give her protection.”

He grunted and responded snidely, “She can be a hero.”

Max shrugged. “She might think so.”

“I haven’t done this before,” Nick said. He gestured at her. “Worked with a reporter.”

“I’ll be gentle with you,” she said lightly.

But his tone wasn’t light when he said, “I’m not really comfortable with this.”

“Then why?”

“I’d considered getting the arrest warrant,” he said and it was only a beat later that Max realized he was joking. Possibly. “But after getting an earful from Beck about you, I watched a couple of your shows. Honestly, you have an underlying disdain for law enforcement that grates on me.”

“I like cops who do their job well.” She didn’t want to argue with Nick, not when they’d be working together. She’d done it before, had a cop who didn’t want to work with her but was forced to by his boss or the PR department, and the tension of the situation made her irritable and ill. She didn’t want to work like that again.

“Do you know any?”

“A few. I don’t want to argue—”

He cut her off. “But there was something else about your style that surprised me. You have a way of protecting the victims and their families even while a nine-thousand-square-foot truly like exploiting the crime.”

“That’s a backhanded compliment if I ever heard one.”

“It’s like you have this big bubble around you that says, ‘Fuck with me, fuck with these people, and I’ll destroy you.’”

“I’ll run that by Ben for our new tagline.”

“I want to put Jason Hoffman’s killer in prison.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He handed it to her. “I don’t know how much research you did on the kid, but he was a good kid, twenty-three, the whole world open to him. He shouldn’t be dead.”

She opened the paper. It was a copy of Jason’s bio, of sorts. Honor student, high school football star, volunteer. She’d already found all that, and more.

Nick nodded, took the paper, without her having to say anything.

“And that’s why I’m going to work with you.”

“Maybe I’m slow on the uptake here.”

“Because you already knew everything about Jason that’s important to his friends and family, but not important in the investigation. You care.”

“I want justice the same as you. The victims need a voice. The families deserve peace. You can’t have peace if you don’t know what happened.”

“Some people do.”

“Not me.”

“Why?”

“You don’t want to hear about all my baggage.”

“Then I’ll ask this: why don’t you like cops?”

“I have no problem with law enforcement. What you see on my show or read in my books are the failures of the system—that they couldn’t solve a crime, for whatever reason. I have access where you don’t. People talk to me and I’m pretty good at weeding out the bullshit. I have the time and energy and resources to do things you can’t do. I portray cops as I see them—some are good, some are bad, most are overworked and I don’t blame them for filing a case cold when they get dumped a dozen more before the end of the first week of investigation. But I’m not going to sugarcoat garbage when I see it. And as far as exploiting crime—maybe I do. But sensationalism is not my goal. I don’t need the attention, and I certainly don’t need the money.”

“I’m going to be talking to Dru Parker as soon as she’s conscious,” Nick said after a moment. “Gorman is handling the initial interviews with Parker’s employers at Evergreen, and her roommates. If the killer thinks that we’ve made the connection between the attack on Parker and Jason’s murder, they’ll be on guard. I’m hoping Gorman can get statements, and thenx wanted this

Chapter Fourteen

Jasper Pierce was everything a wealthy entrepreneur should be—attractive, well dressed, charming, and a flirt. His short sandy blond hair reminded her a bit of Daniel Craig, until she approached and she noted that he was well over six feet. The restaurant was warm and hospitable with a large hearth fireplace and the wonderful, rich smells of Hellenic cuisine. Max’s mouth practically watered. Though the place was crowded, Jasper had procured a large, round corner table near the front that could have comfortably sat four. Other two-person parties were at much smaller tables.

He took her extended hand in both of his. “It is such an honor to finally meet you, Ms. Revere.”

“Thank you.” He pulled out her chair for her. “I have wanted to eat here since they opened,” she said, “but I’m rarely in town. Call me Max.”

“I’ve been friends with Jackson Sterling since high school. He speaks highly of you.”

Max laughed. “He’s probably the only one in my family who would.”

“I’m sure that’s not true.” He gestured to the wine. “I ordered a Rapsani red, one of my favorites. The grapes are grown at the foot of Mount Olympus. But I can also recommend a white, if you prefer.”

“I’ll trust your judgment.”

He smiled and poured the wine. She sipped. It tasted like it had been cultivated for Zeus himself.

They chatted about mutual friends and ate a full meal—the owner obviously knew Jasper and kept bringing out plates for them to share. Max didn’t remember ordering anything, but felt like she sampled half the menu.

They were on their second bottle of wine when Max said, “You’ve been very hospitable, and I almost feel guilty that I need to ask you some questions.”

Jasper smiled. “Almost guilty?”

“It is my job.” shook his head. “wh f alcohol

“I’m all yours.” He leaned back and smiled. Definitely turning on all the charm.

“Did you hear about Dru Parker?”

“Yes. The receptionist. She’s been with Evergreen since she was a senior in high school. Works hard, has poor taste in boyfriends but a strong work ethic, and that’s really all I care about. Jason was friends with her. I thought they might have dated now and again, but I can’t be sure.”

“She planned to meet with me the night she was attacked. I am certain she knows something about Jason’s murder, even if she doesn’t realize she knows something. She’s still in recovery at the hospital, but I’m hoping she’ll be up to talking tomorrow.”

“Why do you think she knows anything?”

“She said something strange had been going on at the Atherton Prep construction site the week Jason was killed. Jason was preoccupied about holes in the trees. Do you know what that means?”

“Possibly. Jason said someone was digging on the site, and he was worried that there was an environmental issue that would impact our ability to get the final building approval and break ground on time. I assured him that all the EIRs had been filed, that there was nothing to worry about. And when I went out to the site, I realized he was concerned about the grove of redwoods on the west side of the property—more than a hundred yards from our construction perimeter. I didn’t pay much attention after that—haven’t even thought about it until you brought it up.”

“You were close to Jason.”

“Yes. Gordon Cho and I have been friends since we were kids. His parents sent him to Bellarmine, not ACP, and we lost touch then and during college, but we both settled back here and I’m his daughter’s godfather. I knew Jason had a gift, he was very talented, and I hooked him up with Gordon to intern as soon as he was in high school. He would have made a wonderful architect. It’s truly a great loss that he’s gone.”